Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies

The Committee to Detect and Defeat Conspiracies was the intelligence branch of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, established in 1776. General George Washington had Nathaniel Sackett be its head, and it helped in the formation of spy networks in major cities such as the Culper Ring of New York. The committee used encryption and signals to contact the spy networks, and their information was typically composed of British Army troop movements, supply drops, news about their commanders, or any planned attacks. It has sometimes been characterized as a proto-CIA.